updated 01:55 pm EDT, Mon March 26, 2012

TiVo tries to hold off Motorola suit with its own

TiVo picked an SEC filing to disclose that it had fired back against a 2011 Motorola lawsuit with one of its own. The new complaint, which also includes Motorola customer Time Warner Cable, accuses the two of violating its key Time Warp patents, including for simultaneous DVR recording and watching, converting TV to digital video, and performing functions on a live stream. The filing, as it wasn't a court document, was short on details.

As with most such cases, TiVo is likely hoping for a ban on practices it believes are copying its techniques as well as damages.

The reason for the more than year-long wait between Motorola's lawsuit and a response wasn't immediately apparent, although it might have been waiting for precedent before going ahead. TiVo won a settlement from Dish over a similar dispute. The DVR pioneer might also have more legal resources to work with now that Microsoft has dropped its lawsuit. [viaZDNet]